Warning: Here be spoilers for the story of Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 7. Read on at your own risk!

Throughout Resident Evil Village, you'll see allusions to the Umbrella Corporation's iconic logo. As with trailers and marketing images, it all raises a serious question--what does this strange Eastern European village have to do with the evil company responsible for the creation of the T-Virus, the destruction of Raccoon City, and the years of monster-based bioterrorism that have gripped the Resident Evil world ever since? Those answers come late in the game, and they work to recontextualize the founding of Umbrella and the events of Resident Evil 7, Village's immediate predecessor.

As you hit the end of Village and Ethan Winters as he fights to rescue his missing daughter, Rose, you finally run into series mainstay Chris Redfield. It was Chris that kicked off all these shenanigans, and he's been cagey about answering questions ever since. Ethan and Chris have a history--it was Chris and a strike force from the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, or BSAA, that ultimately rescued Ethan and Mia from the Baker house at the end of Resident Evil 7. In the three years between 7 and Village, Chris and the BSAA have put Ethan and Mia in hiding in Europe to avoid the crime syndicate that was behind the incident, called The Connections.